


We're Having a Baby, My Baby and Me

by larrysleeds



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blow Jobs, Bottom Harry, Crossdressing, Lactation Kink, M/M, Male Lactation, Married Life, Mpreg, Pregnant Harry, Pregnant Sex, Riding, Rimming, Top Louis, fem harry, live birth, lots of fluff, mentions of Daddy KInk, mentions of fisting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-14 06:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2182230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larrysleeds/pseuds/larrysleeds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry cries when he sees the pretty pink plus sign on the test. It hits him in a way it hadn't before. He really is pregnant. He's going to be a dad. He and Louis are going to have a baby.  And that only brings on more happy tears.</p><p> </p><p>Or, the one where Harry really wants a baby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're Having a Baby, My Baby and Me

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing, I know nothing, this work is pure fiction. 
> 
> I just want to say a huge thank you to my lovely beta [Victoria](https://twitter.com/elfharrys) . She is absolutely amazing and this fic would never have made it past 2k words without her help. I love you so so much. I also want to say a huge thank you to [Jessica](http://chesireprincess.tumblr.com) for helping me power through and finish this fic as well as editing the whole thing for me at the very end. You ladies are amazing and I love you to bits, thank you so much ♡ 
> 
> I know that males can't get pregnant in real life. I'm very much aware of this. However, for the purposes of this fic men and women can get pregnant. Both are very common and completely normal. Men give birth to babies all the time. Mpreg is completely normal. That being said it's also common for males to give birth naturally so no ripped anuses (Kristen you don't need to worry) their bodies are built so that they can handle it. 
> 
> The title is from [I Love Lucy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrTPaa9kJ1o)

"What's it say?" Louis calls through the bathroom door to his husband.

"See for yourself," Harry grumbles tossing the pregnancy test to the floor and pushing through the bathroom door and into their bedroom. He curls up on Louis' side of the mattress, pressing his face into a pillow. It smells like his husband and Harry hides his face in it as he cries in disappointment. Harry feels the mattress sink down as Louis gets in bed next to him. He lets a few more tears slip as Louis pulls him close.

"Hey now, don't cry love. It's going to happen. Just because it didn't this time doesn't mean it's not going to." Louis says as he kisses away Harry's tears.

"What if we're not meant to be parents, Lou? We've been trying for three years now!" Harry blubbers through his tears. Louis wants to promise him that it's okay and that Harry's going to get pregnant soon but Harry may have a point.  They've been trying to get pregnant for three years to no avail.

"I want a baby so bad, Louis. I want us to be a proper family." Harry whispers, hiding his face in Louis' chest.

"I know babe, I know." Louis sighs, "Maybe we should go see a doctor, just to make sure everything's working properly and stuff."

Harry looks up at him, still teary eyed. "Okay, whatever it takes. I just want a baby of our own."

****  
  


☼   ☼    ☼

It's not even a week later that Harry and Louis find themselves sitting in the waiting room at their doctor's private practice, anxiously waiting to be called back.

"Maybe it's just not meant to happen for us," Harry whispers, aware of the other people in the waiting room. Just because they're out now doesn't mean there wouldn't be a big news headline if people found out they've been trying to get pregnant for years now.

"I suppose we could always adopt or summat if we really can't get you pregnant," Louis replies a bit resigned.  He toys with his wedding band. "I just always imagined how beautiful our baby would be you know? I want them to be a perfect mix of you and me, something that's completely 100% us." He explains in a whisper.

"That's what I want too, it's what I've always wanted." Harry whispers back.

"Harry Tomlinson?" The nurse calls out.

"That's me," Harry replies with a wave before he and Louis join her. They get a few curious looks from other patients in the waiting room but thankfully none of them look like they’re fans. It's only a few minutes of the nurse taking his temperature and weight before they're sitting in a office room waiting for the doctor.

****  
  


"Hello boys, I'm Dr. Muir, what can I do to help you today?" The doctor greets them as she enters. She's bright and cheery and bubbly and it makes Harry feel more optimistic about the whole thing. That doesn't mean he's not embarrassed explaining though as he stutters his way through, blushing bright red. "Well, um, we've been trying to, uh, get pregnant for a while... for like, uh, three years now I think, and it still hasn't happened yet and we thought we should, um, maybe get checked out to make sure there isn't something like - stopping us or I don't know.” Harry takes a hold of Louis’ hand and tugs it close. “We just really want to have a baby and we've been trying for so long and we have no idea what else to do... so we're here." As soon as Harry is finished speaking he turns and hides his face in Louis' chest.

"Mr. and Mr. Tomlinson, let me make sure I've got this clear. You've been trying to get pregnant for 3 years but haven't been successful and you don't know what to do to increase your chances of getting pregnant?" She questions and both Harry and Louis nod their heads. "Alright, do you mind if I ask you two a few questions and then we'll go from there?" Harry and Louis nod again. Dr. Muir asks a bunch of questions about them, their sex life, their lifestyle, etc. They blush and even giggle once or twice, mostly just mortified to be talking to a stranger about their sex life. They're sent off separately to collect some samples and to have blood drawn to be sent to the lab. Dr. Muir decides to put Harry on fertility drugs to increase their chances of conception and they leave happy and optimistic. She tells them "I'll call you if there's anything unordinary about your samples, otherwise I'll be hearing from you once Harry's pregnant. I'd give it three, four months at most until you're back in my office."

****  
  


☼   ☼   ☼

Three sex filled months go by, Harry's still not pregnant.

****  
  


☼   ☼   ☼

Five even more sex filled months later, Harry still isn't pregnant.

****  
  


☼   ☼   ☼

****  
  


Six months fly by and of course Harry is still not pregnant. The couple begins to wonder now at this time if he ever will be.

☼   ☼   ☼

****  
  


It's been seven months since their last visit with Dr. Muir and Harry's still not pregnant. They find themselves back in her office, disappointed and even more desperate for a baby.

"I was wondering when I'd be hearing back from you two, took a bit longer than I was expecting if I'm being honest, but it doesn't matter now. Are you ready for your first ultrasound, Harry?" Harry’s face drops and he bursts into tears. Louis wraps his arms around him, face solemn.

"We, uh, still haven't been able to..." Louis mumbles, a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Oh my, I'm sorry boys. I think it's about time we tried a new method to get you pregnant. How do you both feel about assistive reproductive technology? We tried putting you on clomiphene but that wasn't successful so we a have a few options on where to go from here. We can try a number of things. For instance, hormone injections would be the easiest path to take; however, I think our chances of success will be rather low based on your body's lack of response to the clomiphene. We can try artificial insemination, or if that doesn't work we can try in vitro and if need be we can try Intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Do you boys have any preferences or questions about any of the procedures?"

"Which one will get me pregnant the fastest?" Harry asks immediately. Louis squeezes his hand.

"Based on your current situation I would say in vitro fertilization, or IVF for short, will probably be your best bet. However, I must warn you there is no guarantee that this will work and it can be rather pricey." Dr. Muir explains to them.

"Money is no concern," Louis tells her, squeezing Harry’s hand tight.

"We just want our own little baby." Harry explains, squeezing Louis’ hand back.

"Well in that case, I suggest we start today. We’ll need sperm and egg donations from the two of you today unless you wish to use a donor." Both Louis and Harry shake their heads. "Alrighty then let's get to it!"

☼   ☼   ☼

Harry goes through three rigorous cycles of IVF before he finally gets pregnant. It's been nearly four years since they started trying for a baby. He and Louis are absolutely ecstatic when they hear the news, both of them crying and hugging Dr. Muir who tears up a bit as well.

"I'm so happy for the two of you. Now, Harry, remember to stay on your meds to reduce chances of a miscarriage and to start taking those prenatal vitamins. Try to get lots of sleep and stay active but don't over work yourself. Be sure to take it easy. I'll see you next week for your appointment.  You know you can always call me if you have any questions or concerns. Congratulations once again." They thank her for all the great work she’s done and they leave considerably happier than ever before, Harry with his hand on his stomach and Louis with his arm wrapped around his waist.

☼   ☼   ☼

Harry's five weeks pregnant and he couldn't be any happier. He feels like he's walking on sunshine. Knowing that there's a little life growing inside him makes him want to sing from the rooftops as loud as he can. He can't believe that there's a tiny person inside of him that he and Louis made, with some medical help of course, but all the same it's their baby.

Harry squeals when he sees the brown nondescript package on the front porch. He brings the package inside and quickly opens it to reveal the pregnancy test he'd ordered the week before. It would have been much easier to just go out and buy one at the chemist's, but Harry didn't want it to leak to the media just yet. He's wanted to take a pregnancy test for ages just to see the plus sign that's evaded him for so long. And, well, if he wants to keep the test for scrapbooking then that's purely coincidental.

Harry cries when he sees the pretty pink plus sign on the test. It hits him in a way it hadn't before. _He really is pregnant. He's going to be a dad. He and Louis are going to have a baby._  And that only brings on more happy tears.

Harry subscribes to a bunch of different pregnancy sites, and orders a cute pair of baby booties. There's one site in particular that catches his eye. It's informative and helpful and cute in the way it explains things, he makes sure to bookmark whattoexpect.com. He goes through their pregnancy week-by-week page and clicks on week 5,

_"Your baby now resembles a teeny tadpole (complete with a tiny tail) and is about the size of an orange seed. The circulatory (or blood) system, along with the heart, is the first part of that tiny body to be functional; and as your baby's heart starts to form, you may even be able to see it beating on an early ultrasound. Another part of your little tadpole that is under construction: the neural tube, which will eventually become your baby's brain and spinal cord." (Week 5)_

Harry likes to think the reason that the baby's heart is growing is because even though the baby's only the size of a tadpole it's already stolen Harry's heart.

☼ ☼ ☼

_"Your baby is growing at an amazing rate — about a millimeter every day — and now is the size of a large raspberry. Your little berry is looking a lot less reptilian (even though she has webbed fingers and toes, her tail is just about gone) and a lot more baby-like these days, as her lips, nose, eyelids, legs, and back continue to take shape. Her heart is beating at the incredible rate of 150 times per minute — about twice as fast as yours! And even though you can't yet feel it, she's now making spontaneous movements as she twitches her tiny trunk and limb buds." (Week 8)_

Harry's eight weeks along now and even the morning sickness can't put a damper on his happiness. If anything it makes him even more excited because he really is pregnant, he's feeling the symptoms and everything.

Harry has to fight the urge to buy every baby thing he sees online. He's spending hours on Pinterest, working on his pin board for the nursery. He can't wait to start decorating, but Louis wants to wait until Harry gets to the thirteen week mark in case he miscarries. Harry doesn't think he'd be able to handle it if he lost their baby so he tries not to think about it. He knows having a nursery full of baby things would only serve to rub salt in the wound if they were to lose the baby.

Nonetheless, there's a rather large number of unopened packages accumulating in one of the guest bedrooms; that has, through an unspoken agreement, become the nursery-to-be.

Harry can't wait to tell people about their baby. He wants the world to know, well okay not actually the whole world but his world. He wants his mum and his sister and the boys to know. He's ecstatic to be pregnant and he wants everyone he cares about to be just as happy for him. He can't wait until he's 13 weeks so they can finally start telling people. He wants to be able to do things like go to a baby store or go to parenting classes.

Harry has a whole list of things he and Louis have to do to get ready for the baby and he is so ready to get started. His list consists of things like: decorate the nursery, pick a baby name, take birthing classes, design birth announcements,  and take a prenatal yoga class. He's willing to do everything he can to make sure, when his baby joins the world, they have everything they could ever possibly want.  

☼ ☼ ☼

Louis comes home from work one day during Harry's eighth week of pregnancy to find Harry hunched over the toilet and crying his eyes out. He immediately drops down and rubs Harry's back, pressing kisses to his head and neck and shoulders, trying to calm him down.

"Babe, what's wrong? Why are you crying, love?" Louis asks him soothingly.

"I-I-I can't keep down any-any food, I throw it all up," Harry gasps for a breath before he continues, "Lou-Lou what if I'm starving our b-baby because I-I-I can't keep anything down. I don't wanna lose our little baby, Lou. I can't, I can't lose our baby." Harry sobs frantically.

"Deep breaths," Louis says soothingly as he rubs Harry's back, "freaking out isn't going to help anything. Can you try to calm down please, babe?"

Harry takes a few deep breaths composing himself. It takes a few minutes before his breathing returns to normal and the tears stop flowing.

"Why don't we look up some ways to get past morning sickness okay, love?" Louis asks, already pulling out his phone to google it.

"Wait, I have a page bookmarked on my phone. They had a really cute description of what the baby's doing each week." Harry pulls his phone from his pocket and brings up the web page.

_"Those queasy feelings may still be sticking around this week. Try eating foods with ginger (many studies show it works for reducing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy) — ginger cookies, real ginger ale, or ginger candies. And try taking your prenatal vitamin during dinner rather than on an empty stomach. The chewable kind might also make you feel less queasy"_

__****  
  


"Why don't I run to the store and get some ginger biscuits for you and our little pumpkin? And you try to get some sleep okay?"

When Louis gets back, Harry's curled up in bed, his hand over his tummy and a contented smile across his face. Louis can't help himself. He snaps a picture and then crawls along the bed until his head is next to Harry's tummy. He knows the baby is too small to hear him but he wants to talk to it anyways.

"Hi baby, it's your daddy, well actually I might be your papa we haven't quite figured that bit out yet. But I just wanted to tell you that I love you so, so much and your daddy and I can't wait to meet you. You are our precious little miracle. I love you little pumpkin." Louis would have expected to feel silly talking to his unborn child but he doesn't at all. He feels so much love for the tiny baby. He wants to protect his little pumpkin and hold them tight. He can't wait to meet his baby. It surprises him how in love with the little 8 week old tadpole he is. Louis presses a few kisses to Harry's tummy before slotting himself next to Harry. He wraps his arms around his husband and places his hands on top of Harry's.

☼ ☼ ☼

_"Your baby (now about two inches long) has been pretty busy this week, growing hair follicles, fingernails, and ovaries (if she's a girl). She has distinct human characteristics by now, with hands and feet in front of her body, with ears nearly in their final shape, open nasal passages on the tip of her tiny nose, a tongue and palate in the mouth, and visible nipples. What else makes her look human? Those hands and feet have individual fingers and toes (meaning good-bye to those frog like webbed hands and feet). Hooray!" (Week 11)_

Harry really wants to know the gender of their baby so he can start shopping for baby things and start planning the color scheme for the nursery.  He has his 12 week ultrasound next week and they might be able to find out the sex of the baby then, but Harry wants to know right this very second.

He knows he's silly, it's just something that won’t stop bugging him to find out. So he logs onto his laptop to take one of those quizzes that projects the sex of your baby.  He finds one pretty easily ([x](http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/signs/quiz/baby-gender-prediction/?psrc=pmmHAgenderquiz%20%20))

_"Learning the gender of your baby is an exciting milestone for many expectant parents, but you'll have to wait three long months for your first ultrasound -- and there's no guarantees that you'll find out your baby's sex. If you can't wait another minute to know if you're having a boy or a girl, our gender predictor has the answers! This 10-question gender prediction quiz takes only a couple of minutes to complete and may reveal the true gender of your baby. Try it now and then start picking out a name for your baby boy or girl."_

__****  
  


He answers the questions as quickly as he can. His (not quite showing yet) baby bump is lower. The doctor had told him the heartbeat was more than 140-beats per minute. Pregnancy has left him with a glow, not acne (thank god). Louis himself hasn't put on weight, (not that Harry's put on much either). Harry isn't craving sugar. Pregnancy has indeed made him more clumsy (he's always been a bit of a klutz though). No, he isn't craving salt.  No, he doesn't look pregnant from behind (he doesn't look pregnant at all!).  Yes, he has definitely had morning sickness. And lastly, his legs have not gotten harrier (what sort of question is that?!?).

Harry taps his foot nervously as he waits for the results.

Louis would probably give him a look and say, _really... an online quiz? That’s shit, babe._

__****  
  


He just wants to know if he has a boy or girl and who knows, maybe this quiz is pretty accurate. He holds his breath for a moment as the results load.

_"Gender Prediction Results_

__

_Its a boy!_

_Congratulations on your pregnancy! Based on your answers, we predict you will have a baby boy."_

__****  
  


Harry squeals and lets out a little giggle. He wouldn’t mind a boy. A little boy bursting with energy, who he can watch Louis play footie with and even play dinosaurs with too. He'd be absolutely thrilled if he has a boy. Then again, he'd also love to have a daughter. His little girl, who he can play princesses with and get invited to tea parties and dress up in between. He'd be over the moon if he has a little girl. He really wants one of each if he's being honest. Overall, he doesn't care what gender his baby is as long as they are happy and healthy.

It makes Harry realize just how badly he wants to have a large family. He’s rather thrilled that he and Louis are starting their own family. But the fact is, they are only starting. He's not going to be finished after just one baby. He wants a whole house full of tiny humans. Harry knows that it'll be loads of work and he probably won't get much sleep, but he wants to have a large household of his and Louis’ kids. It'll be worth it in the end every time he sees his babies smile and coo at him.  His heart will melt with love and adoration, especially when watching his husband play with their kids and he knows he wouldn’t regret it in the least.

☼ ☼ ☼

"Lou! Louis! Louis come here quick!" Harry calls out from their bedroom. Louis drops everything he's working on and dashes upstairs to Harry.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay? Are you hurt? Do I need to call for an ambulance?" Louis asks frantically as he throws open the door. He'd been protective before Harry got pregnant but since Harry's pregnant now he's desperate to protect his growing family and every situation now has a sense of urgency to it that it didn't before.

"Do you see it?" Harry asks. He’s standing in just his boxer briefs in front of the body length mirror. He's smiling like a Cheshire Cat and there are tears running down his face.

"Are you hurt? What's wrong?" Louis demands. He's trying to stay calm but he's terrified something's happened to Harry.

"My bump, do you see it? Louis, I'm finally showing!" Harry tells his husband. His smile is radiant and he looks like he truly is glowing.

Louis takes a deep breath, relieved that Harry and his baby are alright. He takes a good look at Harry, facing frontwards there's really no noticeable change, but from the side - Louis can see a very small bump. To the untrained eye it would appear that Harry had just taken a break on the crunches. His tummy looks a little bit softer, but Louis knows differently. He can clearly see that his tiny baby is in there. He’s used enough to Harry’s body to know what his abs look like. He's quite familiar with them. But this time, Harry’s tight abs are overshadowed by the little person growing inside of him. There's definitely a bump. It might be a small bump but it's _their small bump. It's their baby._

__****  
  


It's only a moment before Louis finds himself crying too. He doesn't think he's ever felt this scared in his life. He's really going to be a father. He can hardly wrap his head around it. That small bump is their baby. It's a tiny little human being growing inside of his darling husband. It's so fragile and helpless and that terrifies Louis.

Louis gets down on his knees in front of Harry’s stomach.  "That's our baby," he says because he felt like it needed to be said out Loud. He needed to hear it. He presses kiss after kiss onto the skin along Harry’s tummy.

"I love you so much littlest pumpkin. I cannot wait to meet you." Louis whispers, placing even more soft pecks to Harry's tiny bump.

It doesn't take long before Louis' mouth strays down a bit lower. He presses kisses along Harry's happy trail and pulls down Harry's tight little boxer briefs, moving lower to kiss along Harry's thighs. He watches as Harry's cock hardens, pressing little kisses to the tip before taking Harry into his mouth.

Harry moans in delight as Louis bobs his head, working the bottom part of Harry's dick with his hand and playing with Harry's balls.

"So-so good, Lou, please," Harry gasps. Louis hums in agreement, lips still wrapped around Harry's cock. He slides a tentative finger across Harry's hole. Not enough pressure to do anything, just toying with the rim. That's all it takes to push Harry over the edge. Harry's been so horny lately because of his overactive hormones that he's surprised he’d lasted the few minutes he did.

Louis swallows eagerly, making sure to get every last drop. He only let's Harry’s cock fall from his mouth once Harry's started to go soft.

Harry yawned sleepily, arms stretching above his head.

“I think I’m going to take a nap,” he says, letting out another yawn.

Louis smiles up at Harry and slowly guides him over to their bed, he cleans him off with a tissue and tucks him under the sheets, pressing a big kiss onto his cheek. “Sleep well, m’love.”

☼ ☼ ☼

_"By now, your baby weighs a full half-ounce and is about the size of a large plum. Most of his systems are in place, though there's still plenty of maturing to do. For one thing, his fetal digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements necessary for eating, and his bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons against germs once he's out of your safe haven. The pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) has started producing the hormones that'll enable him (or her) to make babies of his (or her) own in a couple of decades or so." (Week 12)_

__****  
  


Harry can't sit still. He has too much nervous energy. He's too excited, too anxious. He hates waiting rooms. Who likes waiting anyways? Why can't the nurse call him back now so he can see his baby?

Louis places a hand onto Harry's bouncing leg. Harry can tell he's excited too; either that or he's nervous. Harry hopes it's excitement. They can't wait to see their little baby. They’re so eager to hear the heartbeat. And maybe if they're lucky they'll even find out the gender.

"Mr. Tomlinson," the nurse calls out. Harry nearly jumps out of his seat. The only reason he doesn't is because he doesn't want to hurt the baby.

Time seems to move at an achingly slow pace until Harry's finally ready for the ultrasound. Dr. Muir spends a moment setting up the machine and then Harry is asked to lift up his shirt. He squeezes Louis' hand as they wait for Dr. Muir to find their baby.

Harry smiles and turns his head to look at Louis when they hear the baby's heartbeat through the speakers of the monitor. Louis' eyes are welling up at the sound, so delighted to finally hear his baby's heartbeat, yet terrified at the reality of it all. Harry gives his hand an extra squeeze.

"The heartbeat sounds healthy, shall we take a look at your baby now?" Dr. Muir asks them.  Harry and Louis both nod their heads yes. The image on the screen doesn't make much sense to either of them. They're not sure what they're looking for. Dr. Muir shows them where the baby is on the image and Harry swoons.

"Would you both like to know the gender?" Dr. Muir asks them, "your baby is being very cooperative, based on its position I can tell you the gender if you'd like to know."

"Please," Harry says, his voice almost slightly desperate. He and Louis hadn't discussed it before but Harry doesn't think he can go much longer without knowing.  The doctor looks at Louis and he gives a quick nod.

"Congratulations boys, you're having a baby boy!" She tells them excitedly. Harry let's out a soft giggle. He's oh so happy. He can't wait to meet his baby boy. He looks over at Louis who's now crying even harder than before. He looks as though he might faint.

"I'll go make you two some prints to take home," Dr. Muir tells them as she slips out of the room to give them some privacy.

"Harry, we-we're going to be dads," Louis chokes out, "we're gonna have a baby boy. Our own little boy." Harry nods his head unable to find the words to explain how he feels. There's only one thing he knows he can say, one thing he can express about the excitement and love and anticipation he's feeling.

"I love you, Lou."

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


Now that they know the gender, Harry is constantly thinking about what they'll name him. For now they're sticking to "the baby" and "pumpkin" but Harry really wants to find the perfect name for his son. He has a notepad he keeps around the house to write down names whenever he thinks of them. His list is getting rather long when Louis takes notice of it.

"Harry? D'you think we should maybe like I dunno sit down and talk about what we're gonna name him?" Louis asks a bit uncertain. Louis isn't really certain about anything when it comes to the baby.   

"Yes please!" Harry smiles so big at his husband, "I'll go grab my name notepad and grab one for you too!"

"You sit, get comfy, I'll go get them." Louis suggests. It's really more of an order than a suggestion but it's said in such a loving way, that Harry is happy to oblige. Louis returns a moment later with Harry's notepad and one for himself.

"Do you want a minute to brainstorm?" Harry asks.

"Nah I was thinking I'd write down the ones you've got that I like and maybe add some of my own that I think of." Louis says easily.

"I have a pretty long list, want me to just read it off to you?"

"Sounds good, love."

"I like names that are kinda uncommon but not weird, you know what I mean?" Harry explains.

"Yeah me too," Louis agrees, "like Nolan or something."

"That's good write that one down," Harry tells him,"so here's a few that I liked: Noah, Garrett, Seth, and Jordan." He watches Louis write down _Noah_ and _Seth._

"What about Adrian?" Louis asks, he's already written it on his pad of paper.

"Or maybe Colton?" Harry replies, "I really like Colton."

Louis writes down _Colton_ as well as _Christian, Julian, Ian, Peyton, Eli, Tristan,_ and _Jake_.

"What about Piers?" Harry asks.

"Ew no! That's like Piers Morgan. I'm not naming my son after Piers Morgan!" Louis protests.

"Porter?"

"Is that even a name?" Louis asks.

"What about Gabriel? We could call him Gabe." Harry suggests.

"I like that one, what about Caden?"

"Caden's good, how about Mason? I really like the name Mason." Harry says eagerly.

****  
  


"Mason," Louis says like he's testing out the sound of it. "Mason Tomlinson. I like it," he decides. "Mason's a good name."

"Mason Tomlinson," Harry confirms. "I like the way it sounds.”

"So our baby's a little Mason then?" Louis questions happily.

"I think so," Harry says in reply. He looks down at his still mostly flat tummy. "Do you like it, Mason? Do you like your name?"

****  
  


☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_"What's up with your baby? Well, besides being as large as a peach now, that big old noggin of hers is now about half the size of her crown-to-rump length (that’s one reason why your little peach looks more like an alien from outer space at this point). By the time you give birth, her body will catch up, measuring three-quarters of her total size. What else is going on in there? Tiny bones are beginning to form in her arms and legs, the intestines are beginning to move from the umbilical cord to the abdomen, and the vocal cords are well under construction (the first step toward saying, "I love you, Mommy!"). And because she can move her arms and legs in a jerky fashion, she may be able to get her thumb into her mouth (a habit that may come in handy for self-soothing when she’s a newborn)." (Week 13)_

By the time Harry reaches the thirteenth week of his pregnancy he's absolutely bursting to tell people. He doesn't think he could wait another week if he tried. Dr. Muir said that everything looked fine and the baby was healthy at his last appointment so now that he's passed the 13 week mark and the chances of miscarriage have gone way down, Harry was finally able to tell people.

Harry and Louis decide to call Harry’s mum first because Harry's her baby and Harry's the one who's actually carrying their unborn child. They'll call Louis' mum as soon as they get off the phone with Anne.

"Louis do you think it's late enough that my mum'll be awake? I wanna call her. " Harry asks, waking up his husband at 7 in the morning on a Saturday.

"Bloody hell, H, go back to bed. No one’s gonna be awake yet." Louis shoves his own face back under a pillow to drift off to la la land.

"But, Louuuuu, I'm 13 weeks now! We have the opportunity to tell people!" Harry can barely contain his excitement.

"Have our mums over for dinner and tell them in person," Louis grumbles.

In an attempt to get Louis to wake up, Harry tickles him. The plan backfires a bit when between Louis' giggles he elbows Harry right in the face trying to get his pregnant husband off of him.

Harry starts to cry from the impact. Louis’ elbow honestly didn't hit him that hard and it really didn't hurt at all, but Harry's rather emotional lately. Any little thing can set him off. And well, exaggeration and drama queen behavior just comes with the whole being pregnant package. If Harry's being honest with himself, the minor injury he sustained from attempting to wake Louis actually has no bearing whatsoever on his emotional state. He was fragile before Louis bonked him; it just worked as a catalyst to start the waterworks.

Harry's scared. He's been wanting to tell his mum that he's pregnant for a long time now, but he's also anxious and bloody terrified. He really hates keeping things from her like this, especially things that will make a large impact on his life with a new little one on the way. But the main thing is, he needs Louis 100% on board to do so.

Harry crawls back into bed teary eyed. He needs Louis' love and support, but right now he also wants to make a point. He rubs at the spot on his forehead that Louis had elbowed and does nothing to stem the flow of tears down his face. He makes a show of scooting over to the part of the mattress as far away from Louis as possible. He rubs at his head a bit more.

Louis immediately says something when he feels Harry’s warmth leaving him. His tired voice coming out with a slow drawl, "Come here, baby, come cuddle with me. I'm sorry I hit you, it was an accident. I'm really sorry, babe. Please come cuddle lets have a lie-in," Louis suggests. Harry isn't fooled though, he is pretty sure Louis just wants to make up then go back to sleep.

"No." He pouts, turning around to lie on his side with his back to Louis. Louis let's it be and falls back asleep. He's woken up a few hours later by a once again crying Harry.

"I'm sorry, I'm such a basket case. I don't know why I'm being so dramatic, I'm just so emotional lately from the pregnancy... please don't leave me." Harry cries louder, wrapping his body as close as physically possible to Louis.

"Oh, love." Louis pats at Harry's head, fingers running down the disarray of curls. "I think it's safe to say you've experienced some heavy mood swings. Do you wanna make that call to your mum now? Let's ask her to dinner this weekend, let her know in person she's gonna be a grandma."

"Okay," Harry sniffles.

They call both of their mums and ask them to come over for dinner that weekend. It's nothing new, they've had family dinners with their mums once a month since they stopped touring and had time at home.

****  
  


☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_"Now the size of your clenched fist, your baby is more fluid-like in his movements, so he’s no longer doing the jerk every time he repositions his arms and legs. Other developments this week include a roof of his own (inside his mouth, that is) as well as intestinal activity: His intestines are producing meconium (which is the waste that will make up his first bowel movement after birth). He is also sporting a downy coating of hair (lanugo) that keeps him nice and warm. Not to worry — you won't give birth to a monkey; baby fat will accumulate over the next few months and take over the function of keeping your baby warm and toasty —allowing most of that hair to shed." (Week 14)_

"How are we supposed to tell them?" Harry asks a bit frantic as he cooks dinner. They're getting ready for their mums to visit, only an hour or so until they're set to arrive.

"Should we just get them drunk and then casually be like 'and oh by the way we're having a baby'?" Louis suggests.

"Mum would never forgive me if we did." Harry refuses the idea, "but that does remind me of the red wine we have that would go nicely with the meal. Can you go grab a few bottles from the wine cellar while I finish this up?"

"Sure, sure."

The doorbell rings while Louis is in the wine cellar, their mums early as per usual.

"Coming!" Harry calls. He quickly pulls the lasagna he was cooking out of the stove and sets it to cool on the stove top. The door is open before he enters the foyer, both his mum and mother-in-law too eager to wait to be let in.

"Harry, dear it smells amazing," Jay tells him as he presses a kiss to her cheek.

"Lovely to see you as always Jay," he says as he gives her a hug, careful not to hug her too tight. He doesn't want her to feel his bump just yet.

"What no kiss for me?" Anne asks, pouting as she takes off her coat.

"Sorry mum," Harry says as he leans up to kiss his mum's cheek and gives her a quick hug before she can squeeze him in a tight embrace.

 

Louis joins them with a bottle of Tuscan Sassicaia wine, it’s pretty expensive but they are  currently celebrating, despite their mums not knowing what for exactly. They sit down at the table to Harry's home cooked lasagna. The meal is going smoothly, same as usual. 

Harry nervously fiddles with his wedding band. He and Louis hadn’t had the chance to discuss how they were supposed to tell their mums. Harry's not exactly sure how to bring it up. He's hoping Louis will be the first to say something; otherwise, he might actually have to get them drunk before they tell them.

"More wine, mum?" Harry asks, passing her the bottle.

"Don't mind if I do," she says back with a smile, she's already mildly tipsy. "Harry, baby, why don't you have a glass too, it's been ages since you had a drink."

Harry stills, “Umm...no thanks, mum. I’m good." Harry tells her with a shy smile.

"C'mon, love. You haven't had a drink for what two or three years now? One drink won't kill your chances of getting pregnant. It's only bad for the baby after you're pregnant." She insists, filling up a glass and pushing it towards her son.

"Fours years actually and really, mum. I don't want one."

"What, why not? It’'s not like you're pregnant yet or anything. One glass of wine won't hurt."

"Well..." Harry trails off not sure how to say it. They didn't have a plan per se but this is still not how Harry expected his mother to find out.

"You're pregnant aren't you?" Jay asks him.

"You know now that you mention it he does look a bit like he's glowing." Anne agrees.

"Surprise!" Louis exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. "I guess the cat's out of the bag now isn't it, kitten?" He says to his husband chuckling a bit. He presses a quick kiss to Harry's nose.

"Surprise," Harry agrees, smiling wide.

Their mothers fawn over Harry asking him a million questions. It’s a miracle in itself that their ears weren’t talked off their heads.

Louis is especially relieved, by the time their parents leave later that night. He's heard enough baby talk to last him a lifetime. He still feels new to the whole pregnancy thing, and it scares him immensely. Eventually, he will have to face the reality of it all. It won’t be long till Harry gives birth to their newborn baby Mason and he cannot for the life of him, shake off the feeling that he won’t be ready to handle it.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_"Your pregnancy back pain may have you tied up in knots, but your baby's getting ready to bust a move. At five and a half inches long and five ounces in weight, he now may be large enough for you to feel him twisting, rolling, kicking, and punching his way around the womb. Plus, he's developing yawning and hiccupping skills (you may feel those soon, too!) and his own unique set of toe and fingerprints." (Week 18)_

Harry's 18 weeks along now and they've told all their important family and friends about the baby. Harry's gotten a lot bigger and it’s impossible to hide his growing bump. Not that he's ever really tried to in the first place. He's felt the baby kick a few times and since his morning sickness has gone away he's rather enjoying being pregnant. After a successful ultrasound showing once again a perfectly healthy baby boy. Harry can't wait to tell the world.

Dr. Muir gave Harry and Louis a dozen different pictures from the scan and Harry decides to tell the world by instagramming one of them. He makes sure to include his name on the sonogram so people didn't think of it as a joke and then captions it "#babytomlinson".

The fans reaction is far more positive than either of them were expecting. Of course there's a few negative comments but for the most part their fans are really happy for them. It's so nice now that they've retired from boybandism, they don’t have to worry about management or anyone dealing with their public image. They are able to do what they want when they want to and the sense of freedom is amazing. It’s quite exciting, to be able to tell the world about their baby on their own terms.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_"This week, your baby weighs in at a whopping pound and measures nearly eight inches, about the size of a small doll. But your little doll (who now has eyebrows, eyelashes, and maybe even some hair on that little head) is a living one who can now perceive light and dark. She can also hear your voice, your heartbeat, your gurgling stomach, and the whoosh-whoosh of blood circulating through your body. And as her brain and nerve endings develop, she may reach for her face (or whatever she can reach) just to experiment with her newfound sense of touch." (Week 22)_

__****  
  


Once they've gone public with the pregnancy they can really start to get ready. Harry wastes no time in signing up for prenatal yoga classes. He loves doing yoga a lot and soon he has Louis doing the yoga poses with him at home in their spare time. Each class Harry learns new poses that he eagerly explains to Louis once he gets home.

They've converted one of their larger spare rooms into a gym for Harry to exercise when he feels like it. He has his yoga mats and yoga ball as well as different cushions to do yoga poses with. For twenty two weeks, pregnant Harry sure stays active.  There's also a treadmill positioned so that Harry can watch the telly while he walks and an elliptical that hasn't been used yet. Harry's bench press and weights from before the pregnancy sit untouched in the corner.

"Lou! We learned this cool pose today and I could really feel the baby move!" Harry tells his husband excitedly. "Grab your yoga mat, I wanna show you."

Harry does a few sun salutations, letting his muscles stretch and relax as he waits for Louis to join him. He loves how yoga helps him to relax. It's aided him in dealing with the lower back pain and has really helped him grow accustomed to his body with the changes from pregnancy. He feels more flexible than he was without child.

When Louis returns with his yoga mat, Harry stops his sun salutations. "The baby's kicking again if you'd like to feel it," he tells his husband, "put your hand right here."

Louis doesn’t move at first, shocked at the fact that he’s about to feel it for himself. Harry pouts, taking Louis' hand and placing it on the left side of his baby bump - and sure enough, there's a little kick against his palm. It’s short and happens without no warning, and it’s fucking terrifying. There’s a baby in there; a real baby. And in just a few months Louis is going to be a father. He takes a deep breath and removes his hand from Harry’s bulging tummy, heart thudding in his chest.

Harry doesn’t question Louis’ sudden change of demeanor and Louis is grateful for it. "Our baby boy's gonna be a footballer like his papa. I can already tell. I swear he thinks my tummy is a ball." Harry laughs.

"Papa?" Louis asks, raising an eyebrow. They'd never actually discussed what the baby would call them.

"Well it's just, uh, you know, like, we have to start calling each other, you know, whatever we want the baby to know us as. And like I, uh, I don't think I can exactly call you daddy in front of our baby," Harry blushes.

"I rather like papa I think," Louis muses, "you can be daddy. I'll be papa."

Harry positively beams at him, "thank you papa! Can we do some yoga now please?"

Harry shows Louis how to do a few poses; child's pose and warrior modified pose and triangle pose. It's a few minutes before he starts talking again.

"I think I made a friend in my yoga class," Harry ventures, when he's in downward facing dog.

"Oh?" Louis asks.

"Yeah her name's Jessica. She's due the same week as me. She's really nice. I don't think she really knows or cares that I'm famous. She asked me to go get smoothies after next class with her since we can't drink coffee." Harry rambles on clearly excited about his new friend.

"She sounds lovely, H. Would you like to invite her and her partner to dinner sometime?"

"Maybe sometime. She was telling me about this other class she was taking to get ready for the baby. We need to do more to get ready, Lou. We don't even have a birth plan yet."

"Do we need a birth plan? I thought it was pretty straight forward."

Harry sighs exasperatedly, "yes we need a birth plan for fuck’s sake. We are not going to leave anything up to chance when it comes to my baby!"

"It's my baby too, love. He's our baby. I want him to be okay just as much as you do. Do you wanna go have a cuppa and talk about this upstairs?"

Harry pauses for a minute thinking about it. "Promise you'll let me do it the way I want?" He asks nervously.

"Let's talk about it."

"I was talking to Jessica, you know my friend from yoga, and she was saying she's going to do an all natural birth and she and her husband are taking Lamaze classes. I think I wanna do that too. I don't want drugs. Sometimes they can slow down labor and hurt the baby and I'm not letting anyone or anything hurt my baby boy. And if you get the epidural then you don't even feel it when the baby's born. Like you can't feel from your nipples down to your thighs. I don't want to miss that, Lou. I want to remember what it was like to have my baby. I wanna do it the natural way." Harry explains.

"Sounds like you've got your mind made up." Louis says cautiously.  He doesn't want to fight with Harry, but he's worried. He doesn't want to make his husband upset but he also doesn't want to see Harry in pain. He's not sure he'll be able to watch if Harry's writhing in agony. He wants to be there for him, he's just worried about his wellbeing.

"Because I do have my mind set. I'm doing this the natural way. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt my baby and I want to be able to really remember what it was like." Harry's very adamant.

"Okay, love, but before you get your heart too set on it I think we should talk to Dr. Muir and just make sure she's on board, yeah? It would be best to know if its safe for you." Louis concedes.

They meet with Dr. Muir to talk about Harry's birth plan and she says she's on board. She eases Louis' nerves a bit when she tells him that they're making the safer choice for both Harry and the baby. She tells them it can end badly for a pregnant male. There’s a high percent chance that a baby would be born with terrible side effects from the drugs. To drug a pregnant male would be fatal and it’s even worse if he had a c-section. She goes on to say it would be best to avoid both of those and that the natural birthing would be ideal for Harry and his baby.

Harry signs up for the Lamaze class that Jessica and her husband are planning to take. He orders books and movies on Lamaze wanting to make sure that he and Louis are both ready by the time their little baby decides to join them.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_"Your baby is growing by leaps and bounds, reaching nine inches in length and passing the pound and a half mark. Under his skin, capillaries are forming and filling with blood and by week's end, air sacs (also lined with capillaries) will develop in his lungs, getting them ready for that first breath. Mind you, those lungs aren't ready for prime time just yet — but they are developing surfactant, a substance that will help them expand after birth. And speaking of breathing, your baby's tiny nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, are starting to open, and his vocal chords are getting ready to roar." (week 26)_

__****  
  


"Harry why can't you make the food I like anymore?" Louis whines as Harry prepares yet another organic, healthy meal. Louis is sick of eating healthy, he's sick of craving junk food. Harry's the pregnant one so why is Louis the one getting cravings?!

"I thought you liked my pesto pasta," Harry looks up from the bowl he's stirring.

"It's just so green!" Louis exclaims throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, "I just want a burger and some chips why can't I have a burger and chips? I'm so sick of all these organic vegetables. I haven't had a proper meal in ages!"

Harry's eyes fill with tears but he continues preparing the pasta. He refuses to let it get to him. He knows he's doing the right thing by eating healthy for the baby even though he's been craving a big greasy slice of pizza for what feels like forever.

"If you don't like my cooking, you can always make something else," Harry tries not to let the hurt show in his voice. He doesn't want to be snappy or rude but he isn't feeling emotionally stable on his own right now. He also doesn't need Louis complaining about food when Harry's given up everything that's even remotely unhealthy. He's made so many sacrifices for the baby, yet Louis can't make a few simple ones that help him to be a healthier person.

"Fuck, H, you know that's not fair, you know I can't cook," Louis complains.

"Louis." Harry says, losing what little patience he has left. "We are going to have a baby in just a few months.  A tiny little person that will depend on us for absolutely everything. It's about time you learned how to make something other than tea!" And with that he grabs a fork and storms off with the bowl of pasta. Only once he's locked himself in a guest bedroom does he allow himself to really cry. Once he starts crying there's no stopping it.

_It's not fair. It's not fair that Harry should have to do all the work and make all the sacrifices for them to have a baby. Harry has given up his body for nine months to allow the baby to grow. He can't fit into his old clothes and he can't do the same things he used to do. He has to deal with the pregnancy symptoms like the nausea and the backaches and the cravings. He's giving up so much for this little baby and Louis has the nerve to complain about his cooking?!? Louis hasn't had to give up anything other than his junk food that he really shouldn't be eating anyways. It's not fair for him to get upset over the food when that's one of the few sacrifices Harry's asked him to make. Honestly, Harry's not even sure that Louis even wants the baby at this point.  He's not as excited to be a dad as Harry is. He's not as willing to get involved. Hell he won't even make the effort to eat healthy along with Harry._

Louis puts his head in his hands, groaning. He's fucked up. As much as he hates admitting defeat, he knows he was wrong here. He gets up from the kitchen island and goes to their bedroom. He pushes the door open, breathing a sigh of relief that it isn't locked. He goes over to the bed and frowns at the state Harry's in.

"H," Louis murmurs, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist, hands folded over the slight bump. He strokes his fingers over Harry's stomach, smiling softly as he presses his face against Harry's shoulder. He can't help but smile when he thinks about the amazing journey that they've started on, and he realizes the last thing he wants to do is fight with his husband. Harry doesn't push away from his touch and Louis takes that as a good sign, cradling him closer.

"I am trying you know," Louis says after another moment of silence, disappointed in himself. "I need you to realize that while my sacrifices are in no way the same as yours, I still make them," Louis says, trying to communicate his thoughts clearly. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything, babe; it's alright. But we've got to do this together, yeah? You and me," Louis says, holding him close. "You've always liked the sound of that, I know it. Louis and Harry."

"Harry and Louis," Harry corrects with a giggle and Louis smiles, kissing under his jaw.

"Whatever you say baby," Louis smiles, sealing their lips together.

"You know Dr. Muir said it's safe to have sex and all at this point during the pregnancy," Harry tells him, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh really? Is that so?" Louis slides his hands up from Harry's swollen tummy to play with his nipples.

“Fuck, Lou, I'm so sensitive be gentle please!" Harry whines. He takes Louis' hand bringing it down to his bump again but this time the lower half; the part where his bump slowly turns into crotch area. He's already rock hard in his pants. He's been desperately horny lately. Louis has been too scared to touch him that way because he didn't want to hurt the baby.

"Think you can lie on your back for me, babe?" Louis coaxes. Harry complies easily, desperate for some action. Louis takes his time slowly undressing his husband. He looks so beautiful, his baby bump becoming more and more prominent and defined. His nipples are so puffy, Louis simply cannot help himself.

To tease Harry he tenderly takes one nipple into his mouth, sucking gently while he lovingly twists the other. Harry’s responsiveness is mindblowing. He moans wantonly as his husband plays with his nipples. He wonders if he’d be able to come from this.

He doesn’t have a chance to try though as Louis shifts his mouth to Harry’s achingly hard cock. Harry sucks in a breath, overwhelmed by the sensations. He’s not sure which he likes better having his nipples sucked or his cock sucked. They both feel deliciously wonderful. Harry knows he’s not going to last. He feels his dick hit the back of Louis’ throat at the same moment that Louis chooses to twist his nipple hard, and he shoots his load unable to hold back anymore. Exhausted, he curls up in a ball and abruptly falls asleep.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_Your baby is settling into the proper position for birth, with his head facing downward (toward your body's nearest exit!). Your little work in progress is now about 2.5 pounds and almost 16 inches long. He's busy adding new skills such as blinking to an already impressive repertoire of tricks like coughing, sucking, hiccuping, and taking practice breaths. Your baby's sleep now includes the REM (rapid eye movement) phase — and that means he could be dreaming already (what do you suppose he's dreaming about?). (week 28)_

__****  
  


Harry's so visibly pregnant now that anyone would have to be blind not to notice. There have been numerous articles and pictures about it in the tabloids. However, Harry and Louis have yet to do any interviews about the pregnancy. Since they've gone public with the pregnancy, they haven't said anything else yet about it. They don't want to make a huge deal out of it but it seems that since they haven't talked about it openly to the press it's turned into a much bigger deal than they had anticipated.

So Harry and Louis have gone to Cosmo to do an article on Harry's pregnancy. Their interviewer is very nice and they have an easy time talking to her about the whole thing, adding in funny little anecdotes here and there. Even though it's been a few years now it's still incredibly nice for Harry and Louis to be able to openly talk about their relationship. After all the years of hiding and "protecting their image" they're able to value so much more now that they're able to talk about their love life without fear of serious repercussions.

Harry feels like the article went really well but he can't help but be nervous about it. It's one thing to do interviews about himself or even him and Louis but it's completely different when it comes to the baby. Harry wants to protect his baby boy from all the negative media and he can't help but wonder if he's already failed before the baby's even born.

The morning that the article is set to go on the newsstands, Harry is up at the crack of dawn. He can't sleep. He's too anxious. He's excited and terrified about the public reaction now that it's going to be official. He's worried that all the anticipation is going to raise his blood pressure and he really doesn't want to harm the baby in any way.

By 5:30 am, Harry can't take it anymore and texts Niall asking him to pick up a copy and drive it by the house knowing full well that Niall hasn't gone to bed for the night yet. Less than an hour later Niall's knocking on their bedroom door. (He has a key to the house so he just lets himself in)

"You bastards better be wearing clothes," Niall calls out, "I've seen you two going at it before and I have no desire to witness that again. My eyes are still burning from the last time!"

"Shh, Niall, Lou's still sleeping!" Harry whisper yells at Niall as he opens the door. "C'mon downstairs, I'll make you a cuppa and you can crash here if you like."

Two steaming cups of non-caffeinated tea later, Harry remembers why Niall is over in the first place.

"Do you have the article Ni?"

"Ya, I left it in the foyer. I'm gonna sleep now." Niall says with a yawn, wondering off to "his" room.

Harry waddles to the foyer and takes a few deep breaths to compose himself before looking at the article. The front cover has a lovely picture of him and Louis, Louis' arms wrapped around his middle, both of their hands on Harry's bump. (They had promised to mail Harry prints from the photo shoot and he couldn't wait to frame them.) He flips to page 32 to look at the article itself. It's formatted nicely with a mix of text and pictures of Harry and Louis and sonogram prints. Harry takes the article back to bed and settles in to read it.

**Interview** ( _italics= Harry_ , normal text= Louis)

**How's married life treating you?**

_Really good, we're really happy. It's nice to have my own little family._

Yeah we've never been better, we're so happy to be adding to our little family. Can't wait for the little one to get here.

**How did you find out you were pregnant?**

_Well actually we'd been trying to get pregnant for a few years, [giggles] but it just wasn't happening for us._

We really wanted a baby, ya know? We wanted to really settle down and start a family.

_So when the doctor suggested we go through some fertility treatments, we did._

It wasn't until after a few cycles of IVF that we got pregnant. The doctor was so happy when she told us, she's been so wonderful and supporting through the whole process.

**I noticed you said "we got pregnant" not "Harry got pregnant", how involved in all of this have you been, Louis?**

Well obviously a marriage is a partnership, we do all the important things together. We're both all in. It's not just Harry's baby because he’s the one who's carrying it. It's our baby, our family.  We're in this together.

_Louis has been great throughout the whole process and now into the pregnancy as well. He's really my rock--- my support system through it all.  I wouldn't be able to do it without him. [turns and smiles at Louis]_

**How far along are you?**

_I'm twenty eight weeks as of yesterday._

You can probably tell he's already showing.

**How did you spill the news to your family?**

_That's actually kind of a funny story. Both of our mums come over for dinner about once a month and we have a nice evening, just the four of us. We knew we needed to tell our mum’s but we hadn't figured out yet how to do it. And then during dinner my mum kept on trying to convince me to have a glass of wine and it sorta just became uh, like really obvious I guess, since like they knew we'd been wanting to start a family for ages._

They were both really happy when we told them. I swear they're already competing for the baby's affections. My mum can't wait to be a grandmother.

_My mum already has a few grandchildren because Gem has a few kids of her own. Mum always says she wants bunches of grandbabies so she really couldn't have been happier when we told her._

**Do you know the baby's gender?**

We do! But we're keeping it a secret until the baby's born. Gotta keep the people in suspense somehow. [chuckles]

_We were so excited when we found out the gender. Not that we wanted one gender over the other--- we just wanted our baby to be healthy. It made the whole thing so much more real. Like we're actually having a baby!_

**Have you started thinking about names yet?**

_We already have a name picked out [giggles]_

We haven't decided on a middle name yet though.

**What about the baby's last name? Are you going to hyphenate it? Or will the baby be a Styles or a Tomlinson?**

_Why would we hyphenate or make the baby's last name Styles?_

The baby will be a Tomlinson, just like us.

_I changed my last name to Tomlinson when we got married. Louis and I are both Tomlinsons. Of course our baby will be a Tomlinson. [huffs indignantly]_

[chuckles]

**Out of your band mates who are you planning to make the godfather?**

It was a really tough choice because we love them all dearly and we want all of them to be involved in our child's life---

_\---which they will be_

\--but after a lot of consideration we've decided to make Zayn the godfather.

_Niall's already claimed favorite uncle!_

They're all really excited about the baby.

**What has been your favorite part of the pregnancy so far?**

_Feeling the baby kick for the first time was pretty incredible._

Also, at least for me, just hearing the baby's heartbeat and seeing the sonogram.

_Finding out the gender was really incredible too._

And we had fun picking out the name.

_Also when our doctor told us that the IVF had been successful this time--- that was one of the happiest moments of my life._

Yeah, finding out you're going to be a parent is the most amazing feeling. It's absolutely terrifying and exciting at the same time.

**What are you most excited for out of this pregnancy?**

Isn't that kind of obvious? We're most excited to meet our little baby.

_[giggles] we can't wait to meet our baby. I can't wait to hold them and to nurse them and to sing them to sleep._

It might sound a bit crazy but I'm even looking forward to the late nights without much sleep. I just can't wait to be a dad.

**What things are you going to change about your lifestyle?**

Well we've already started eating a lot healthier, no more junk food and only organic fruits and vegetables and the like.

_We also are in the process of remodeling and baby proofing our house to make sure everything's safe for our little pumpkin when they get here._

**Do you want your baby to be in the public eye?**

_I think despite how much we want our child to have a normal childhood without media attention, it's just not realistic to expect it._

We've always wanted to protect our families from the media and it won't be any different with our baby except maybe the public's interest may be heightened a bit.

_We'll make sure to keep everyone up to date on the baby via social media but we'd also really appreciate it if the press would give us some space especially when the baby is still a newborn._

**Why did you want to have kids?**

I think we've both always like kids, we always knew we wanted a family. It was more a question of timing than anything else.

_I'd known since I was really little that I wanted to be a parent. I used to always take my sister's baby dolls and pretend I was their mummy. I knew from a young age that I wanted kids of my own._

****__  
  


**When did you know this was it? How did you know it was time for a child?**

Well as we mentioned before we'd actually been trying to get pregnant for a few years. We got married pretty young I guess you could say since H was only 22 at the time. And we knew after being married for a few months that we were ready to start a family.

_I always wanted to have kids young because like it's easier to be more involved in your kids life when you're young, like you have more energy and stuff. Like, I'm 26 now and I've been ready and wanting to be a parent since I was 22._

Also it's worked out better now since we're not touring as a band anymore. We stopped touring about two years ago so that we could all do other things with our lives. It makes more sense to settle down now that Harry works from home most of the time unless he's in the studio and I can take a break from acting whenever.

**Are you planning on having more kids in the future?**

_Definitely, we both love kids. I’d love to have a bunch of little Tommos running around the house._

I’m thinking we should have enough for our own footie team? Maybe with two or three subs?

_Sounds like a plan, just give me some time in between pregnancies yeah?_

But seriously though, we’d love to have a bunch of kids.

_If that’s not in the cards for us though we’d be thrilled with just one or two._

As long as I get grandbabies at some point it’s all good.

_Though hopefully not for another 20 years!_

**Do you have experience with kids?**

_My sister Gem and her husband have two little ones that we love to watch. They’re 4 and 2 and they’re the cutest even if they can be a handful from time to time._

I’m sure everyone already knows this, when I was growing up I helped to raise my much younger sisters. I knew how to change a diaper at age seven so I think it's pretty safe to say I’ve got experience with kids.

**How did your bandmates react? Are they excited or supportive?**

_They’re all super excited, every time they come over they bring loads of baby stuff with them._

We haven't started working on the nursery yet but the room is nearly overflowing with gifts and we haven't even had a baby shower!

☼ ☼ ☼

_'How big is your baby this week? She weighs nearly three pounds now and measures about 17 inches. Though she's getting pretty close to her birth length, she still has to chub out a bit. In fact, over the next 11 weeks, she'll more than double — or even come close to tripling — her weight. And as she grows and the room in your womb gets tighter, you'll be less likely to feel those big kicks and more likely to get poked by an elbow or jabbed by a knee.' (Week 29)_

__****  
  


Harry's woken up by the shrill sound of the home phone ringing. Not many people have the home phone number, so it must be important.

"Hello?" He answers, too groggy to bother to read the caller ID.

"Haz? Oh thank god you're awake. Do you think you could watch Annabelle for me today? Eddie's got an away game and the sitter just called and said she's sick and can't come over. I'll drop Anabelle by your house in twenty. Thank you so much!" Gemma rambles, talking so quickly Harry's sleep foggy mind can barely keep up.

"Uh, okay I think? What am I doing?" He yawns into the phone.

"You're going to watch Annabelle for me, try and keep up will you? It'll be good practice for when your baby gets here."

"Okay." Harry yawns again.

"Please try to stay awake while you watch my daughter." Gemma chuckles, "I'll be by in a second to drop her off."

Harry stumblingly waddles back to bed to wake his husband.

"Lou, need you to wake up," he whispers stroking his husband’s cheek. Harry's exhausted and sore and very pregnant. He's not sure he's up to watching his energetic 2 year old niece all on his own.

"Swh-what? 'S too early to be up come back to bed. Come..." Louis trails off falling back asleep.

"Louis please! I need you to get up," Harry says a bit more forcefully this time.

Louis reluctantly sits up, "Tea. need tea. Too early. Need tea now. Or sleep. Sleep is good. Sleep is nice. But awake now. So tea."

"I'll make you a cuppa but can you please get up? Gem's bringing Annabelle by in a minute. We're babysitting. I need your help." Harry pulls clothes from the closet and throws them at Louis. "Get up, get dressed."

Harry goes to his dresser to find something to wear that he can be seen in public. He's hoping to take Annabelle to the park but he can't very well be papped in old sweats and a big sweater. He finds his black maternity skinny jeans and prays that they'll still fit--- the baby has been getting rather big lately so they'll definitely be tight. He slides on the skinny jeans, breathing a sigh of relief when they still fit, the stretchy elastic of the top sit nicely on his hips stretching over his bump.

Harry's rather excited to be seen in public showing off his bump. He's very proud of it, he is growing a little human being after all and it's hard work. It seems only natural he should get to show it off.

He finds his most snug fitting maternity shirt and pulls it on, giggling at the little nursing pads built into the shirt. They make his already swollen nipples a bit bigger and he knows it drives Louis crazy.

Harry pulls on a light pastel colored plaid shirt to match the pale blue of his t-shirt. He doesn't even bother trying to button up the plaid shirt, there’s no way it'll button over his baby bump.

Harry ties a pale pink bandana around his head and slides into his converse. Dr. Muir insisted he stop wearing his heeled boots once he was 6 months along.

Harry has just enough time to make Louis his tea and to eat a bite of breakfast himself before Gemma arrives. She's a bit frantic as she drops of Annabelle. She says something about calling later, before she shoves her daughter into Harry's arms and drops a diaper bag on the table by the door.

"Sorry, H, gotta rush! Thanks again for watching her. Annabelle, be good for your uncles please!" She places a quick kiss to both her daughter and her brother's heads and then dashes off.

"Hello Ms. Belle! How are you today?" Harry asks his niece. He sets her down on her little chubby legs since he's not supposed to be lifting anything heavy just yet.

"Harrwee!" She yells, wrapping her little arms around his legs.

"Aw, I missed you munchkin. Did you already eat breakfast?"

Annabelle pauses for a moment contemplating, "No. Mummy no have time."

Harry chuckles, "How about we get you something to eat? I can make you and uncle Louis some eggs, how's that sound, Belle?"

"Where uncle Ouis? Eggs good! OUIS!" Annabelle gets excited at the mention of her other uncle.

"Did I hear a little monster by the front door?" Louis calls from the kitchen

"Yup!" Annabelle shouts in reply "Belle here, Ouis here, Harwee here!" She turns to Harry, "eggs now?"

"Sure, cutie, lets get you some eggs. Why don't you go see if you can find Louis in the kitchen?"

"Otay!" She toddles off on her chubby little legs towards the kitchen. "OUIS!" Harry smiles fondly after her. It won't be all that long until his baby is as big as Annabelle. Harry's not sure if that frightens or excites him more. Maybe a little bit of both he thinks.

They spend the day playing princesses with Annabelle, taking her to the park and for an icecream cone. Harry's incredibly relieved that the paps give them a bit more space than usual since they've got Belle with them. He hopes they'll show the same courtesy when Mason arrives. Despite their distance, however, the paps manage to get quite a few photos of the three of them in the park. The headlines the next day comment on how far along in his pregnancy Harry is and how he and Louis are getting in some practice parenting before due day.

☼ ☼ ☼

_Your belly’s increasing size is a definite clue that your baby is getting bigger every day, weighing in at over three pounds now (he’ll be packing on the weight at a rate of half a pound per week for the next seven weeks). Also growing daily is his brain, which is actually starting to look like the real thing with those characteristic grooves and wrinkles. And now that your little genius can regulate his own body temperature and turn up the heat, he'll start shedding lanugo, the downy body hair that's been keeping him warm up until now. (week 30)_

Harry's nearly 7 months along in his pregnancy when he freaks out about how much they have left to do to get ready for the baby. He wakes Louis up at 4 in the morning in a panic and refuses to go back to sleep until he's made a list of everything he has left to do.

_Things to do before the baby arrives:_

_-design birth announcements for family and friends_

_-buy clothes for baby_

_-buy remaining things needed for the nursery_

_-buy things needed for other rooms than the nursery (ie. baby bath, high chair)_

_-buy baby carrying devices (slings, baby bjorn, car seats, strollers, baby backpack)_

_-order monogrammed diaper bag_

_-have the nursery painted_

_-bribe Zayn to do a mural for the nursery_

_-baby proof the house_

_-buy all organic baby food_

_-buy diapers, bottles, dummy tits etc._

Harry goes back to bed around 5:30, waking Louis up to tell him they're going to go shopping for nursery things over the weekend.

Saturday morning bright and early, Harry drags Louis out to every possible baby shop, boutique and mega store in all of London. They stop at Buy Buy Baby first simply because Harry loves a good pun.  By the end of the day, Harry has bought so many baby booties and onesies, Mason won't even be able to wear them all before he outgrows them. They bought at least a years worth of bottles and nipples and sippy cups and bibs. Stocked up on dummy tits and baby toys and bought every type of furniture anyone could ever possibly want. Harry ended up buying three high chairs, reasoning that he needed a nice wooden one for the dining room when they have company, a more casual one for the breakfast table and just to be safe a third one for the kitchen. Because you know moving a high chair from one room to another is really _s_ _o difficult._

When they get home, Harry gets straight to work. Everything they've bought for the baby is nearly organized in the guest bedroom next to the soon to be nursery, while the actual nursery is completely empty. The plan for the nursery is for it to be nautical themed. The walls are going to be painted baby blue, one wall being a mural of ships at sail on the sea. (Zayn had so graciously offered to paint after Harry hinted that such a task would be godfather worthy.) The furniture Harry had picked out was all dark stained solid oak and was set to be delivered the next day. He'd gone all out on the bedroom set; getting the crib, dresser, wardrobe, rocking chair, footrest, changing table, bassinet, mirror and cradle. The linens are all soft 100% cotton and baby blue and white striped.

Harry gets teary eyed and emotional when he sees the nursery all put together for the first time. It's just like he imagined only a bit better. Louis had taken the time to add a few little things to the room, like framed pictures of the two of them. Harry wants to cry at the sentiment and starts bawling his eyes out when he sees that the wood of the picture frames match exactly with the wood of the furniture. On the door, in the same wood, are big letters spelling out Mason.

"Really hope you don't decide you want to change his name now, love," Louis jokes, "Those letters are permanently attached to the door."

☼ ☼ ☼

__

_Weighing in at three-plus pounds and measuring 18 inches long, your baby is quickly approaching his birth length — though he's got to pack on another three to five pounds before D-day. Also developing at an impressive clip: your baby's brain connections (he's got to make trillions of them!). He's now processing information, tracking light, and perceiving signals from all five senses. He's also putting in longer stretches of sleep, which is why you're probably noticing more defined patterns of wakefulness (and movement) and rest (when he’s pretty still). (Week 31)_

__****  
  


At 31 weeks along Harry has his last Lamaze class. The whole yoga/Lamaze thing helps him to feel empowered about the situation. He knows what to do, he knows what to expect and he knows strategies to help him cope. He leaves the last class rather emotional, hugging all of the women in his class and promising them and the instructor they'll all do mommy and me yoga once their babies are born.

Afterwards Harry, Louis, Jessica and her husband Steve go out to lunch. While Harry and Jessica gush about baby related things Louis and Steve focus on the footie game talking a bit finding out they have a bunch of common interests. Harry really hopes Louis and Steve can be mates, he'd love to go on double dates and with Steve and Jessica.

Steve and Louis decide to head to a pub to catch the rest of the Liverpool game and grab a pint. Harry wouldn't be surprised if Niall joins them. On the other hand, Harry and Jessica go to the spa and get back massages and pedicures; complaining about lower back pain and swollen ankles the entire time. Harry loves that he's made a new friend though his pregnancy and with his and Jessica's close due dates he hopes their babies will have lots of playdates.

While they're out to lunch, Harry gets an alert on his what-to-expect-when-you're-expecting pregnancy app. Every day at random times it gives him little tips of FAQs on pregnancy for his week of development. This one says:

**Week 31 Pregnancy Tip: How a Baby Responds to Sex**

_Parental lovemaking and orgasm can have an interesting effect on babies in the womb, as you may have noticed. Some babies are very quiet after their parents have sex (rocked to sleep by the rhythmic movement, perhaps) while others become frisky themselves (hey, where's the party?). Both responses are completely normal and in no way indicate that your baby is aware of the goings-on…just that he is having fun going along for the ride. So keep on enjoying your sex life — and your orgasms — as much as you like. And for as long as you can (which, with your practitioner's approval and a few advanced Twister-type moves, can be right up until delivery day). After all, pretty soon making love with a baby in the house won't be quite so easy or convenient._

Harry giggles blushing after reading it. He's been rather horny lately but Louis doesn't seem to be as in to it. He's so cautious, scared he'll some how hurt the baby, and it's driving Harry a bit crazy. His vibrator has been getting quite a bit of heavy use lately.

He looks across the table to Jessica, "Do you and Steve still have sex?" He asks bluntly. Jessica looks a bit taken aback for a moment but quickly composes herself and answers honestly

"God yes, I swear I'm like a sex crazed teenage boy lately. Why, love? Is something the matter?"

Harry hesitates, as much as he loves sex he's not sure how he feels talking about it with someone who's not Louis.

"It's just like we never really do anything anymore," Harry sighs, "and it's not like I think he doesn't want to sleep with me because I'm fat or anything stereotypical like that. I know I'm not fat, I feel amazing and I love being pregnant. But like I think Louis is scared if we do anything then he'll like hurt the baby or something. We basically haven't done anything since I started showing and it's driving me crazy because I don't think I've ever been this perpetually turned on in my life. I've been wanking more now than I used to as a teenager!"

"Oh love, you need to talk to him. Let him know that it's safe and it's okay and it's what you want." Jessica tells him soothingly. "Besides better to enjoy it while you have the time, once your little one gets here you won't have the energy to do anything but watch the baby and sleep."

Harry returns home feeling empowered and ready to take control of his sex life. He's going to pounce on Louis as soon as he gets home, okay well maybe not pounce since he's very pregnant at the moment. He's going to drop to his knees and show Louis just how much he's dying for it. He's going to give Louis the best head of his life and then he's going to beg and plead wantonly for Louis to fuck him. And Louis will cave, Harry won't take no for an answer. He's ready to take charge and get what he wants.

Except, Louis isn't home when Harry gets back. That rather throws off Harry's plans, it's the unintended variable that Harry forgot to consider. Harry doesn't want to wait for Louis to get home, he wants him now. He wants every part of him. He wants to show him how much he loves him. He wants to make love with him. (Because when they're together it's not fucking it’s fucking _making love_.)

But being the pregnant, impatient, and horny, very horny, person Harry is, he decides to get started without his husband. He heads to Louis' walk-in-closet to go through their selection of sex toys. Harry's closet is too full of clothes to dedicate an entire dresser to toys. He selects his favourite, a purple vibrating dildo and a bottle of lube before making his way to the bed.

Harry strips off his clothes and props himself up on some pillows, settling in. He uncaps the lube, smearing some on his fingers and entrance. He slowly works in a finger, allowing himself to adjust for a moment before adding another. It's been awhile since he last stretched himself out and he can really feel it. It burns a bit but in the best way possible. It turns him on just knowing how tight he is, how Louis' cock will stretch him so that he can still feel it the next day.

Harry's three fingers deep, fucking himself when he hears Louis’ car pull up. He can't help but moan in anticipation. He wants his husband’s cock now. He doesn't think he can wait much longer. It'll take a good three to four minutes for Louis to make it to their bedroom. It's not soon enough. Harry needs more. He turns to the dildo next to him, unused and just begging to be played with.

By the time Louis enters their bedroom Harry's so gone, fucking himself with the dildo as hard as he can, he doesn’t even hear his husband enter; too intent on trying to chase down an orgasm.

"Fuck," Louis gasps. Harry jumps in surprise causing the toy to ram into his prostate. He nearly comes right then and there. He looks up at his husband and watches as Louis’ trousers visibly grow tighter.

"Please, Lou, please!" Harry begs in desperation. He's not sure what he's asking for. He needs Louis. He needs Louis to take care of him. He needs Louis in him.

"Is it safe for the baby?" Louis asks, a look of guilt and concern mixed with lust displayed across his face.

"Y-yes, just fuck me," Harry whimpers. That's all it takes for Louis to strip off his clothing and join Harry on the bed.

"Shh baby, shh it's okay, I'm here. I've got you." Louis soothes. Harry whines more, his need to come growing exponentially by the second.

"Need you." Harry whispers, "Need you now."

"Okay baby can you get on your hands and knees for me? Let's give the toy a rest. You don't need it anymore. I'm here."

Harry obeys immediately, shifting on the bed so that he's on his hands and knees. He slowly removes the dildo, whimpering at the loss. He shivers as his painful hard cock rubs against their soft sheets.

"Fuck, H, you look so pretty like this. All spread out and eager for me. Your tight little hole clenching at nothing, desperate for my cock. So pretty. So so pretty. My pretty boy."

Harry whimpers more, at this rate he won’t last more than two seconds when Louis touches him. Louis lubes up his cock and pushes in fast, not giving Harry any time to adjust before he bottoms out. Harry moans, clinging to the sheets as Louis fucks into him. Harry's so close. He can feel his orgasm building to heights he didnt even know were possible, but he doesn't want this to end already. He bites his lip and wills himself not to come just yet. Louis' hand reaches around to tug at Harry's cock but Harry swats his hand away, determined not to come until Louis does.

"Can-can-can I ride you?" Harry gasps out of breath, "Please, please can I ride you?"

Louis pulls out slowly and lies down on the bed next to Harry who is still on all fours.

"Could you maybe move back a bit closer to the headboard?" Harry requests blushing. If he's going to ride Louis he needs the headboard to hold onto for support, ah the downside to being pregnant. Louis wordlessly slides back.

Harry crawls over on top of Louis, his baby bump brushing against his husband's cock making him gasp. Harry places a quick kiss on each of Louis' nipples and then grasps the headboard, pulling himself up. Louis holds his own cock up so that Harry can easily lower himself down. Harry moans wantonly at the stretch and the angle. He shivers as he bottoms out, Louis' cock brushing against his prostate. With a newfound lust, Harry rides Louis' cock, bouncing up and down, _chasing that feeling_. As Harry feels his orgasm build he knows there's no way he can keep from coming this time. His rhythm falters, inconsistent as he gets closer and closer to the edge. His bum clenching around Louis’ cock hungrily. He hears Louis deeply moan and then come, his hot seed filling Harry up. That's all it takes to push Harry over the edge and he comes untouched, gasping for breath.

"Thank you," Harry pants as he slowly eases himself off of Louis. "I love you."

"Oh, I'm not done with you yet, c'mere beautiful. Let's see that beautiful arse of yours." Louis smiles, his eyes dancing with mischief. Harry's cock perks up again at Louis' words despite having come just moments ago. He shifts to all fours again pointing his bum in the air.

"Look at you. So full darling. You're so full of my come. So full of my baby. So beautiful." Louis places soft kisses across Harry's bum. Harry giggles at the sensation, wiggling his arse. He jumps slightly letting out a gasp of surprise as he feels Louis' finger push past his rim.  

"So... So full," Louis praises adoringly. He pulls his finger out, watching Harry's cute little bum clench around nothing. He licks his finger sucking on it loudly. He leans down pressing more kisses on Harry's bum. Louis can feel Harry's hole flutter as he presses a kiss against it gently licking a stripe down it.

"More. Please." Harry demands and Louis doesn't hesitate to comply. He takes his time, slowly circling Harry’s tight, pink hole; running his tongue along the puckered skin. As he eats his husband out the lack of response from Harry feels a bit odd. Usually the pregnant man is more responsive and certainly more vocal. He turns to look and finds Harry fast asleep, all tuckered out. He looks so young and innocent, curls framing his face, cheeks rosy and lips puffy from biting them. Being pregnant has certainly taken a toll on Harry’s stamina. Louis chuckles at the hilarity of the situation; Harry fell asleep while they were having sex; _he fell asleep._

☼ ☼ ☼

 

_Your baby is standing tall (so to speak) this week at about 20 inches (baby's pretty much reached the in utero limit). But at about five and a half pounds, she is continuing her steady weight gain: She’ll pack on anywhere from one pound to several, including large amounts of baby fat, up 'til delivery day. In fact, back in the middle of your pregnancy your baby's weight was only two percent fat; now at 35 weeks pregnant, that percentage has soared to closer to 15 percent...and will increase to 30 percent at term. Which means your baby's once skinny arms and legs are now quite plump…and irresistibly, squeezably soft. (week 35)_

__****  
  


Harry is ready to pop, if there was even the slightest possible doubt in anyone’s mind that he wasn’t pregnant, it’s gone now. He’s so big that Louis jokingly suggests they might be having twins which sends Harry into a near panic attack because he can’t have twins; they've only prepared for one baby not two! It takes a visit to the Doctor’s office and an ultrasound showing they’re only having one baby to calm Harry's nerves.

When Harry wakes up that Saturday it’s unusually hot for a Saturday in June, especially for a Saturday in June in bloody England for crying out loud. He decides before getting out of bed that he has no interest in wearing clothes in this heat. So, he heads downstairs to start making some breakfast. The baby really wants waffles and who is Harry to keep the baby from getting waffles.

“Harry? What are you doing, love? The doctor specifically told you that you should stay off your feet for the last few weeks of the pregnancy, babe.” Louis scolds, concern etched across his face.

“But, Lou, the baby wanted waffles, the baby needed waffles.” Harry pouts, rubbing his tummy.

“Well then don’t keep the baby waiting, and don’t forget Gemma’s taking you shopping at noon, you better get dressed.”

“I thought I was supposed to stay off of my feet,” Harry quips as he scarfs down his pancakes.

“I thought you wanted to go shopping for more baby clothes,” Louis retorts with a loving smile, “C’mon get dressed Gem will be here soon.”

“Don’t wanna put on clothes,” Harry mumbles, dreading the thought of warm fabric against his skin in this heat.

“Well you can’t leave the house like that, I’m the only one who gets to see you like this.” Louis tells his husband, a hint of fondness in his voice as well as a clear sense of finality to his statement. Harry knows better than to argue with that.

Harry returns to the kitchen minutes later wearing a small pair of shorts (Louis is pretty sure are meant for swimming) and what appears to be a crop top; baby bump on full display.

Louis’ jaw nearly hits the floor, there’s no way in hell he’s letting Harry leave the house dressed like that. He’s not sure if you can even call it being dressed seeing as the majority of his body is on full display. Only his essential bits and puffy nipples are covered for christ’s sake!

But before Louis has a chance to demand Harry to change, the doorbell rings and Harry skips off to answer it. _He fucking skips to the door_ ; stopping to grab his burberry purse on his way out as he slips into his flip-flops. He doesn’t invite Gemma in, instead pulling her to her car before she can even get out a greeting.

They head out to stop by some baby boutiques. Gemma knows better than to question Harry’s outfit choice, on multiple occasions she’d gotten an earful on the freedom of expression through clothing and how Harry did not appreciate being judged by his family for how he dressed. However he still is her little brother so she can’t help but make a few comments.

“Hey H, I thought we were going shopping not to the beach. If you’d told me I would have brought some sunscreen.”

“Hello dearest sister, and no we are still going shopping. Should I put some sunscreen on my tummy though? I don’t want to hurt the baby,” worry flashed across Harry’s face.

“Aw babe, if it’ll make you feel better put some on but you’ll be perfectly fine without it.” As Gemma replies to her brother she watches him pull a tube of sunscreen out of his purse (yes her 26 year old brother carries a purse, she doesn’t ask) and begin to rub it in all over his extremely pregnant stomach.

They went to a few upscale baby store boutiques where Harry felt the need to purchase everything in sight: cloth baby nappies, onesies, baby boy clothes, baby girl clothes, gender neutral clothes, you name it Harry bought it. When Gemma asks him why he bought baby girl clothes and baby boy clothes he tells her very seriously that he doesn’t want anyone but him and Louis to know the gender until the baby is born and if he bought clothes for only one gender that would give it away. Also his baby can dress how ever they want; they won't have to follow gender norms and stereotypes; they can express his or herself how ever they want. He also mentions quietly that if he has baby clothes for the other gender then Louis would have to let them try to have another baby so the clothes wouldn’t go to waste.

“H, tell me honestly how many kids do you really want to have?” Gemma questions her younger brother, slightly concerned.

Harry blushes, “I dunno seven or eight maybe? I kinda always liked the idea of me and Lou being like the next Brangelina except with a happy marriage and the kids getting all the love and care they deserve.” He fidgets, playing with a lock of his hair, clearly embarrassed by his confession, waiting to see how his sister will respond.

“I always knew you were gonna be such a mum!” Gemma ruffles his curls affectionately before being dragged into Baby Gap. Gemma watches as Harry continues to purchase even more clothes.

“Harry, take it easy on the baby clothes pal. You already have more outfits than your child could possibly wear before they grow out of them!” Gemma finds Harry’s shopping habits to be a bit superfluous, however, charming nonetheless. “Am I going to have to cut you off? Two more outfits and then you’re done. I promised Lou I’d return you by two o’clock, wouldn't want to mess up his plans for the afternoon.”

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


They arrive back at the Tomlinson residence and Harry is too distracted, babbling about all the new clothes for the baby that he fails to notice all the cars parked in the driveway.

“Let me go run and put these in the nursery and I’ll be right down. Do you wanna stay for lunch?” Harry’s enthusiasm reminds Gemma of when he was a toddler. She hums noncommittally.

Harry barely makes it through the doorway before he's met with a chorus of “SURPRISE!” and watches as a bunch of his family and friends pop out from their hiding spots.

“You guys!” Harry exclaims, “I thought you all forgot to throw me a baby shower.” He looks around taking in all the familiar faces; his mum and stepdad, Louis’ mum and stepdad, all of Louis’ brothers and sisters, all of their celebrity friends and a few girls from his lamaze and yoga classes.

“Wait a second,” Harry protests, “Boys don’t get to go to baby showers!”

“Calm down love, the lads and I are gonna head outside and fry up some burgers and have a few beers.” Louis gently explains. He lovingly pecks his husband’s cheek and then heads outside.

The shower passes by in a blur of silly party games involving princess jewelry, non alcoholic champagne, and presents. Lots and lots of presents. If there was anything Harry had forgotten to buy for the baby he now had two of each and a spare.

At the end of the party, Harry is overwhelmed with how much he loves his family and friends and how much he can't wait to be a parent. As each guest leaves he makes sure to hug them and tell them how much he loves them and how much it means to him that they came. On her way out, Jessica pulls him aside.

“I have something I wanted to give you but I didn’t think you want to open it with your mum and mother-in-law in the room,” she whispers.  
  
“Oh my do tell,” Harry whispers back, intrigued.

“Well I was thinking about that conversation we had about you and Louis and bedroom stuff,” Jessica blushes, “ and I thought this might help you lot out a bit. Don’t open it here, save it for later,” she says with a wink and a kiss on the cheek as she waddles out the door, every bit as pregnant as Harry.

☼ ☼ ☼

_Forget your aching back (and everything else!) by trying to focus on your baby, who is now about six pounds and 20 inches long. Growth will experience a slowdown now, both so your baby will be able to fit the narrow passageway to the outside and also so he or she can store up all the energy needed for delivery. (week 36)_

At 36 weeks Harry is sure he’s going to have his little baby boy in his arms anyday. His bag for the birthing center has been packed for the past month and now sits next to the front door, ready to go at a moment’s notice. His belly has gotten so big he doesn't understand how the baby could possibly have anymore room to grow. He can feel the baby kick all the time now, it’s like a constant reminder that he’s there and Harry loves it. He talks to his tummy and tells the baby how much fun they're going to have together and how he’s gonna take care of him and how he loves him so so much he can barely wrap his head around it.

Louis is out grocery shopping, buying peanut butter covered pretzels (Harry’s newest craving) when Harry is certain that he is going into labor. He keeps on having stomach pains that feel like cramps. There’s not a doubt in his mind that they’re contractions. Harry frantically calls Louis, begging him to come home immediately and drive him to the birthing center because Harry is certain he himself is in no condition to drive. Though the grocery store is a solid ten minutes away, Louis is home within four. Harry refuses to think about how many traffic laws his husband must have broken.

They arrive at the birth center easily, the short drive not lasting more than ten minutes. Harry calls ahead to let Dr. Muir know where they’re headed so that she can meet them there.

Two hours later Harry and Louis are driving home from the birth center. Harry is still pregnant. He wasn’t actually in labor. Braxton Hicks, the doctor had said. It feels like labor but not as strong and not as painful. Harry is not looking forward to real labor, braxton hicks were more than painful enough.

Harry cries all night, sad because his little baby boy is still in his tummy and not in his arms, and terrified because he has no idea how he’s going to be able to handle giving birth. _How is he supposed to push an entire small person out of him?_ Sure, Louis’ fisted him a number of times but thats not the same thing. This is a baby they’re talking about-- not his husband’s fist! And he seriously doubts that the baby will be playing with his prostate to take the edge off on its way out.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_Baby Is Full-Term: Congratulations! At 37 weeks pregnant, you've got what is officially considered a full-term baby, even with three weeks to go. That means if your baby was to leave the wet nest this week, he or she would likely thrive. But it doesn't mean he's finished growing — in fact, he's still packing on about a half an ounce per day or half a pound a week. At this age, the average fetus weighs about 6.5 pounds — boys, though, are likely to be heavier at birth than girls. And here's a bit of boy baby trivia to back that one up: Moms carrying boys tend to eat more than moms carrying girls (a foreshadowing of teenage refrigerator raids to come). That makes it a little crowded in your uterus, so he’s probably not kicking as much, though he’s probably stretching, rolling a bit and wiggling (all of which you’ll be able to feel!).  (week 37)_

__

Harry wakes up at about 4 am because the baby will not stop kicking him. If little Mason isn’t a footballer like his papa, Harry will be extremely surprised. It’s at 4 am lying in bed that Harry realizes that his son does not yet have a middle name. He panics. Mason could be here any day now and he doesn’t even have a middle name picked out. He’s a fucking failure as a parent and his child isnt even born yet.

Louis wakes up to Harry’s panic sobs, “H, baby are you alright? Is the baby coming now? Just breathe, remember the things they taught you in your lamaze class, just breathe through it.”

“I-I’m not i-in labor, I’m j-j-just a terrr-” hiccup “-rible parent.” Harry continues to sob.

“Babes, you’re going to be the best parent. You’re wonderful with kids. You were made to be a parent. I love you and this baby so much and I love how much you care about our little family. So what’s really bothering you?”

“We-we don’t have a m-middle name for him yet,” Harry wails, “We’re not even ready!”

“Well let’s pick a name now then.” Louis decides. “Have you been thinking about any names in particular?”

“Well, I know you’re like basically supposed to make the middle name like in honor of someone, but our dad’s aren’t the best choices for obvious reasons and if we name him after one of the boys the other two will get jealous and we don’t have many of the same friends that we would want to name our child after.” Harry rambles, talking a mile a minute.

“H, slow down, breathe. We don’t have to name him after anyone. What names did you like?” Louis asks gently.

“Well I thought Nicholas sounded nice but then everyone would think we named him after Nick and I know you would hate that.” Harry sniffles, calming down a bit.

“Well… what if we named him Mason Beckham Tomlinson?” Louis suggests.

“I love Beckham as a name but I just don’t think it flows right with Mason. Maybe we could name the next one Beckham?” Harry smiles, knowing his husband would love to name a child after his childhood idol.

“How about Alexander? You know like Alexander the Great. Big strong warrior. He conquered half of the world. Big, strong fearless leader.” Harry can see the excitement on Louis’ face as he suggests the name.

“I like that, I really like that. Mason Alexander Tomlinson.” Harry turns to his tummy, “Do you like your name baby boy?” when Mason kicks Harry begins to cry. His baby likes his name. Everything’s okay.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


_Your little one isn't quite so little anymore, weighing close to seven pounds and measuring nearly 21 inches long. Only two more weeks (or plus two more, max) before your baby makes his or her appearance!_ _Baby's Preparing for Birth: At 38 weeks pregnant, all systems are almost go! As you prepare for baby's ETA, he or she is also getting ready, big time. Vernix and lanugo continue to shed from your baby's body into the amniotic fluid. Your baby swallows that amniotic fluid and some of it winds up in his or her intestines where it — along with other shed cells, bile and other waste products (triple yum) — will turn into your baby's first bowel movement (meconium) and perhaps your first diaper change. His lungs continue to mature and produce more and more surfactant, a substance that prevents the air sacs in his lungs from sticking to one another once he starts to breathe. Most other changes this week are small but important: He's continuing to add fat and fine-tuning his brain and nervous system (so he can deal with all the stimulation that awaits him once he makes his entrance into the world). (week 38)_

Harry could go into labor any minute now and frankly he’s getting rather impatient. He wants his baby now. Hell, he’s waited 9 months for this, even more if you count the years of trying to get pregnant. He’s so ready to be a parent.

Despite feeling like a beached whale, Harry feels amazing. He’s excited and energetic. It’s like he’s been hit with a new wave of energy. He feels better than he has in ages which according to his doctor is lucky because most people feel quite the opposite as they approach D-day.

He decides to put his new-found energy to good use and finally open up the likely scandalous gift from Jessica. At first he thinks there must have been some mistake. In the box is a very lacy black lingerie set. Sexy sure, but for extremely pregnant men? Harry’s not sure if he’s amused or turned on by the gift. He lifts the panties up inspecting them. They’re nearly sheer but comfortably stretchy. He looks at the tag, curious to see what size they are and to his surprise they’re actually maternity panties. Harry didn't even know those existed.

He can’t help but try them on for size, his cock poking up in interest as he slips them on. He feels sexier than he has in months. They fit in a way that flatters his baby bump and cling to his skin just. Harry quickly strips off his shirt and sports bra. (He’d taken to wearing sports bras when he’d developed breasts to try to tone down the noticeability of his perky nipples. The B-cup lingerie top fit perfectly, feeling much more comfortable and liberating than the confining sports bra.

Harry loved the way he felt in the lingerie. He loved how sexy it made him look and feel. He felt strong, empowered, and beautiful. And he couldn’t help but snap a picture of himself and the mirror to send to his husband with a cheeky _hurry home!_

Seeing himself like this was making Harry unbelievably horny. He could feel precome pooling at the tip of his dick, wetting his pretty panties. He didnt want to take off the panties so instead he played with his breasts, fondling them. His breasts had been growing quite rapidly as his due date approached and the pressure against them felt amazing. Harry twisted his nipples and moaned out in ecstasy. His nipples had always been responsive when played with but that shyed in comparison to their sensitivity now. He felt his bra growing wet and looked down in surprise to find fluid seeping out of his breasts, only to realize that he was nursing. _He has fucking milk coming out of his fucking tits_. Harry nearly cries out in pleasure and in excitement. He’s going to be able to nurse his baby. Dr. Muir had told him there is a chance he has the gene that allows males to nurse their babies, but she also said not to get his hopes up.

Louis comes home to find an overly emotional and horny husband milking himself while wearing black lingerie. It’s a bit much for him to take in. He feels himself grow hard in his sweatpants.

“Please,” Harry begs, desperate for his husband to touch him. He doesn't need to say anymore, Louis is at his side. He takes one tit in his hand gently massaging it, while wrapping his lips around the other. Louis can’t believe how hot his husband looks with boobs, they're so round and soft and perky and responsive and just lovely to touch. He detaches his lips from his husband’s tit and attaches them to his neck sucking and nipping until he’s confident there will be a dark mark there tomorrow.

Harry can’t take his teasing anymore, “Lou, please, need you in me. Now!” Louis doesn't hesitate to comply. He’s three fingers deep in Harry when his husband gasps, hunching over with a moan.   
  
“I’m-” Harry gasps for a breath “-I’m fine, just d-don’t stop.” Louis pushes his concern to the back of his mind and continues pleasuring his husband. He slowly licks at his puffy rim, teasing, as he gently works a fourth finger into his husband. He’s so loose there’s very little resistance as the fourth digit enters.

Not even five minutes later Harry hunches over again moaning louder. “F-fuck,” he moans.

“You like that baby? You ready for my cock? Think you can take it?” Louis curls his fingers hitting Harry’s prostate deliciously. Without further warning he thrusts into his husband, bottoming out. Harry moans again loudly.

Louis shifts Harry so that hes on all fours on the bed, his baby bump and tits swaying with every thrust. Louis is so entranced by Harry’s boobs that it takes him a moment longer than it should to realize that Harry’s crying. And not like crying out in pleasure crying, full on crying out in pain.

“Fuck, Louis, stop please. FUCK IT HURTS SO BAD,” Harry wails. Louis is stunned, he doesn't know what to do. So he pulls out and sits Harry up.

“H, I’m so sorry I didnt mean to be so rough. Fuck, you know I’d never try to hurt you. I love you so much I’m so sorry.” Louis pleads, near to tears himself. He can’t believe he hurt his boy, he made him cry.

“I’m in labor you idiot! Get your shit together. This fucking hurts lets go!” It takes Louis a minute to process. _Harry’s in labor. He’s going to be a dad._ Harry never swears, except when they’re fucking but other than that principle, he avoids swearing whenever possibly so he must be in a fuckton of pain if he’s cursing so freely.

“DO I NEED TO GET MY BAG AND DRIVE MYSELF TO THE FUCKING BIRTH CENTER OR ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME OUT HERE?” Harry snaps.

Louis hurries to get dressed, grabbing the baby bag and getting the car started while Harry struggles to put on sweatpants and a t-shirt on over his lingerie. By the time they’re in the car Harry’s contractions are a solid 3-5 minutes apart and seem to be getting stronger with each passing one. No matter what position Harry shifts into in the back of the Range Rover, he can’t manage to get comfortable.

Between lamaze breaths Harry yells at Louis, “Faster Please! This baby wants out!” By the time they actually arrive at the birthing center Harry is half convinced that the baby will be born in a matter of minutes even though his water hasn’t broken yet. This time they forgot to call Dr. Muir in advance so Louis rings her as soon as he has safely parked in the parking lot and helps Harry out of the car.

Things progress pretty quickly from there. Harry’s brought to a private suite complete with a birthing ball, king size bed, birthing pool as well as other helpful less traditional birthing aides. He spends the first hour walking around, trying to get comfortable and too antsy to sit. Nurses stop by every so often to check on the baby’s heartbeat and to see how far dilated Harry is. They blush and giggle when they see Harry’s wearing lingerie but thankfully they don’t comment.

☼ ☼ ☼

After that first hour he calms down a bit, falling into the rhythm of the contractions. He holds Louis’ hands and they breathe together to work through the contractions. Harry is determined to stick with his original plan of a natural birth.

Dr. Muir arrives and checks on how his labor is progressing.

“You boys are going to be fathers by morning,” she tells them with a smile. Harry continues to breathe through the contractions, gently moving his hips while resting on the birthing ball while Louis stands behind him rubbing his back just like they'd learned in lamaze class.

Just when Harry thinks things are really starting to slow down and he might be able to get a nap in, his water breaks. He nearly slips off the birthing ball in surprise. He can’t help but let out a few sobs when he realizes his pretty panties are now ruined.

Dr. Muir checks again to see how far dilated he is before announcing, “Harry love, it’s time for you to push. Do you think you can do that for me?”

Harry nods, too busy breathing through a contraction to say anything.

Louis rubs his shoulders reassuringly, “You can do this babe, you’re doing so so well.”

“Now Harry, you’ve got a choice to make: where do you want this baby to be born? We can move you to the birthing tub or the bed or you can stay here. It’s your choice; however, I feel it would be most comfortable for you if you can lie down and relax and I don’t think that will happen with you on the ball.” Dr. Muir explains.

“Can-can I move to the tub?” Harry whimpers. He’s exhausted and in pain and he can feel the intensity of the contractions picking up. The thought of the birthing tub sounds so relaxing and he knows he’s going to have to relax if he wants to have this baby anytime soon.

“Of course love. Now do you want Louis in the tub with you or outside next to the edge where you can hold his hands?”

Harry explains that he wants Louis outside of the tub so that when the baby is born he’s dry and can hold their son. Louis may have a few tears in his eyes.

They transition to the tub uneventfully, Harry relying on Louis’ support to move locations. When he hits the warm water he can physically feel his tense muscles begin to relax. He’s ready to have this baby.

“Now Harry, when you feel this next contraction I need you to push. The contractions will help your body but I need you to give it all you got. A few nice, strong pushes and your baby will be in your arms, okay?” the doctor tells him. Harry nods, squeezing Louis’ hands so tight he’s afraid he might lose blood circulation.

Harry focuses when he feels his next contraction starting and gives it all he’s got. It hurts. It hurts a lot. But Harry’s determined that the first words his son will hear will not be the sounds of him cursing in labor.

After an hour of painful, quick contractions Harry is beyond exhausted. He’s positive he can’t push anymore. He doesn’t have any energy left. At this point he just wants to sleep but he can’t because his contractions continue to get stronger and more painful. Harry doesn’t think he can handle anymore pain. He knows it’ll all be worth it when he has little Mason in his arms it’s just hard to focus on that when he feels like he’s being split in two.

“I-I-I can’t d-do this a-anymore” Harry cries, “it’s t-too too hard!” Louis tries to soothe him, wiping the sweat off of Harry’s neck, pressing kisses to his temple and whispering words of encouragement. When the next contraction hits Harry thinks he might actually pass out. It’s too hard, too painful, his body can’t take it anymore.

Concerned, Dr. Muir checks his progress again, “Harry, I know this is hard but you’re almost done. I can see the very top of the baby’s head. If you can give three or four more big pushes he can be in your arms. But if you really feel that you can’t do this anymore then we’ll have to send you in for an emergency cesarean. The pressure on the babies head and neck are dangerous and if he’s kept in this position for much longer than he could easily go into distress.”

“No!” Harry screams, “I can’t have cesarean. I’m going to do this naturally.”

“H, if you can’t do this then we’ve got to think about the safety of the baby,” Louis pleads, “I know you’re strong enough to do this you’ve just got to believe in yourself. Come on breathe through it, big push and we’ll have our little boy.”

Harry holds Louis’ hands tight and then bares down pushing as hard as he physically can, giving it everything he’s got. It hurts like nothing else he’s ever felt before but its all worth it when Dr. Muir tells him the baby’s head is out and he can feel the midwife holding the baby’s head in the water supporting it.

“You’re nearly done, Harry! One more big push and he’ll be out,”  the midwife encourages Harry. With the next contraction he takes a big breath and his face screws up in concentration. Louis can’t help the wave of fondness that washes over him as he watches his husband put all his concentration and effort into one last push. He hardly even notices the fact that Harry’s trying to detach Louis’ hand from his wrist.

Harry gasps, “He’s out I can feel it. Holy fudge that hurt. Give me my baby,” he thinks for a moment before tacking on a “please.”  Louis watches as the midwife slowly passes the baby to Harry carefully, making sure the umbilical cord doesn't get wrapped around the newborn. The amount of love he feels for his husband and new child is absolutely overwhelming he can’t help but give Harry a passionate kiss right in front of the doctor, midwife and nurses.

Louis gets to cut the cord, a rather surreal experience. The nurse takes a bunch of pictures for them. And then their precious little boy is taken away from them to be cleaned up and weighed. Harry’s pretty sure a small piece of his heart breaks as the nurse removes his baby from his arms. If he had it his way he’d never let Mason go.

☼ ☼ ☼

****  
  


When Mason is returned to them all nicely cleaned up and dressed in a warm onesie and blanket, Louis gets to hold his son for the first time. Nothing can compare to the sheer terror and pure love he feels when his small child is placed in his arms. This little baby is his responsibility now; he’s in charge of another life besides his own and that fucking terrifies him.

He leans down, pressing a kiss to his son’s head, whispering, “Hi Mason, it’s your papa. I love you so much. Your daddy and I are so happy you could join us.” He rocks his son slowly soothing him until Harry starts whining and making grabby hands, demanding to hold his baby. The three of them lie in bed together, so peaceful, so happy, their own little family. Harry and Louis finally have the baby they’d been wishing for for years.

Mason Alexander Tomlinson.  Born July 8, 2020 at 2:53 am. 2.8 kilograms, 8 ounces and 49.2 centimeters.

 

**  
**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you want to follow me I'm [@apparelharry](https://twitter.com/apparelharry) on twitter and [louislikesboys](louislikesboys.tumblr.com) on tumblr (:


End file.
